The document discusses different theories about language acquisition and the modularity of the mind. It compares Piaget's view that language develops through constructive stages to Chomsky's view that humans have an innate Universal Grammar. It also covers Fodor's Modularity Theory, which argues the mind is made up of specialized domain-specific modules rather than being domain-general. Finally, it provides an overview of Chomsky's view that the Faculty of Language in the mind, including the Universal Grammar and linguistic competence, are modular and allow children to acquire language during a critical period in development.

1. The Modularity of Mind
LCD 105 – Class 20 – Professor Nathacia

2. Universal
Grammar
INPUT OUTPUT
Primary Data
Exposure to Language
Experience
Grammar of a Language
Linguistic Competence
P&P – Language Acquisition
Fixation of Parameters

3. ?

4. PIAGET
Although he is a great name on child development research, his
degrees were in Biology and Philosophy.
His major research was about the stages of a child cognitive
development
Criticism: biased research; counter argument: biologist procedure.
Piagetian Conservation Tasks

5. PIAGET
One of his great claims was that children develop (language) not
because of a previous knowledge, either inner or empirical, but
because of successive passages through developmental stages in a
constructive way.
To him, there’s no scape from the sequence of those stages, and in
order to reach certain level, a child must go through the previous
stages.
Example: a child must learn how to sit, then how to crawl, then to
stand up, to then be able to walk.
With language, there’s no difference as they built they’re new
knowledge upon previous knowledge.

6. PIAGET
Dependable learning (construtivism)
Mind = Single Intelligence
Piagetian Cognitive Theory
DOMAIN GENERAL

8. FODOR
“The mind cannot be generic. (…) Actually, it is a set of
specialized intelligences that are controlled by their own
internal rules.”
Modularity Theory
DOMAIN SPECIFIC

9. FODOR
The mind is composed by encapsulated modules that are independent from each
other but that keep intercommunication.
The domain specificity has to do with the variety of questions to which a module
answers.
The encapsulation has to do with the variety of information that a module consult
(from other modules) to decide what answer it will offer.

11. ?
What about
Language?

12. Garota sem metade do cérebro

13. Bipolaridade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpE-oaix5kA

14. Down Syndrome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAPmGW-GDHA

15. Alzheimer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WysoapqcXVs

16. Disorders and Language
Some disorders, though, affect language:
- Autism
- Asperger Syndrome
- Schizophrenia
- Specific Language Impairment

17. CHOMSKY
X √

18. CHOMSKY
= MIND
= LANGUAGE

19. CHOMSKY

20. Summing up
ü We have an innate capacity to develop language coded in the
DNA;
ü This capacity is a pre set cognition called Universal Grammar;
ü The Universal Grammar is composed by Principals and unmarked
Parameters;
ü The Parameters are marked during Language Acquisition Critical
Period in order to built the grammar of a specific language;
ü Once a number of parameters is set (when children are about 2.5-
3 yo), the children have linguistic competence;
ü The competence and the UG are stages of the Faculty of
Language;
ü The Faculty of Language Narrow and Broad are Modules of the
mind.
ü The Modules are independent, though they intercommunicate.

21. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT STAGES
Stage Typical Age Description
In utero stage Pre-birth Prosody
Preproduction stage 0-6 months Phonemic discrimination and
differentiation; Syllable
discrimination;
Babbling stage 6-8 months CV patterns, with a plosive
consonant and a middle to low
vowel
One-word or holographic stage 8-18 months Single open-class words or word
stems
Two-word stage 18-24 months “Mini-sentences” with simple
semantic relations
Telegraphic or early multiword stage 24-30 months “Telegraphic” sentence structure
filled with lexical words rather then
functional words.
Later multiword stage 30+ months Full sentences with functional
words.